Burlington Plein Air 15

Its a taken a few days for the dust to settle around here so that I could do a nice wrap-up of the Burlington Plein Air 15 and my participation in it along with my Philadelphia Plein Air friends.

                                      Here I am with my paintings entered for the judging

One of the nice things about this years event was the three weeks we were given to come and go and execute our paintings in the city of Burlington, NJ. This was great as it allowed me to fit the painting days into my schedule with work as well as carpool with Alina and Will and co-ordinate with Charles to do both day and night painting.

Alina and I were set up at the corner of Union which had a steady crowd of lottery buyers who kept parking and blocking our view off and on.

This years event was hosted by 28 East Gallery and its owner Melanie Pease and was limited to 30 artists and you were limited to entering three pieces each, but you could do as many paintings as you wanted. There were a lot of prizes available from the city, the Lyceum, Dick Blick, Jerry's and more. The judge even handed out several extra Honorable Mentions.

The weather overall was great for the times I was able to get out to paint and even if it was a bit warm, it was still nice and I was always able to find a shady spot for the most part but sometimes had to call it a day when the sun started hitting me in the face.

My pochade box was a dream to work with and its the best money I have spent as a painter on an easel, it made painting on location so much easier compared to lugging my old and heavy French easel about with its gangley legs ready to fail or pitch over!

I have been to Burlington several times and was fairly familiar with some of the city, but I did use google maps street view to cruise the city block by block to really scout locations to save time and gas while there and maximize painting time--which as you know as a plein air painter is always running.

                                                          Afternoon Break 12 x 12 Oil
This also meant arriving and choosing a view that would last long enough to paint in the 3-4 hours we'd have for each painting. When I first started landscape painting I raced the sun but didn't plan the times well to go out. Now I do and so some spots while good subjects were not good at the time I was there to paint.

Milkshake 12 x 16 Oil

                                                              Wood Street 12 x 16 Oil

Of course when painting out in public we always had a lot of on-lookers, interested and curious people and the word had spread about the painters being in town again this year. Of course certain members of our party always garnered more interest than others, which made painting a lot more difficult for her.

 

I did five paintings over the three weeks, I wish I had done more but I just had too much work, but I did attempt one night painting which I flamed out on. I bought a headlamp to use but it was actually so bright it glared off the painting making it very difficult to see. I also probably did it too big, 16 x 20, which increased the difficulty. So I will have to work on that arrangement and technical aspect here at home to get the lighting right before I attempt another night painting.

 

I never feel better than when I'm out painting and totally absorbed in the process, trance-like yet conscious of the sun's march. The last painting day I arrived a bit later than I hoped and drove around and found many good spots but I just wasn't satisfied till I found this view. Much like the painting Milkshake this view had some story/narrative to it with the truck parked and at the time people working in the yard. I rushed to get going and just as the truck was blocked in on the painting, the owner drover it off, but I made color notes and mixed it on the palette because I knew the truck might leave at any time. I would return home after each paint-out totally drained yet charged by the experience, and wishing I didn't have to juggle so much, but that's my life!

One of the things about these competitions for me is picking views and subjects that are interesting for me to paint as opposed to trying to paint something that might look good as a standard view of a building or street scene. Trying to guess what the judges might like. Most painters go for a conventional view, which is fine, paint what you want, but its the reason I didn't submit my painting of the little wrecked boat in Curtain's Marina. I figured (and was right) several other artists also painted that same boat. Go for something different was on my mind. Burlington has a sense of time passed and a melancholy akin to many eastern cities like Philly, a very "Hopperesque" aroma. That really attracts me.

I am so happy my friend Alina won best in show and Charles took second place. Thats two PA competitions in a row they both won something and as a whole I think our work really stood out from the other paintings in the show, I can see each individual's personality but also the influence of our school and teachers too in the way our work is painted.

Charles Newman

 

 Two by William Sentman

Alina's winning painting

                                                          Another of Alina's paintings
The reception was nice and I chatted with many of the participating painters most from the nearby area as we snacked on cookies, wine and cheese. So I hope to do this show next year and it sounds like it was a big success and enjoyed by all who participated and its nice to have a local show that isn't 3-4 hours drive each way.

Harley Quinn Inks

A few weeks back I chipped in to help my best buddy Bret Blevins on a crazy deadline on the Harley Quinn Road Trip issue he was working on for DC. The Deadline Doom reared its ugly head once again, so I jumped in to help. We hadn't worked together in a little while on a comic and it was great to ink his pencils, even if they were a bit loose and I had to ink them blue-line printouts instead of on the original pencils. That always make it tougher as by converting things to the non-repro blue ink you do loose some detail and subtlety of the pencil art.

Bret is certainly on the best guys to ever depict the female form in comics or animation, and its always a joy to ink his work. I even went in and added some old style Zip to the pages in photoshop for fun. I inked 8 pages out of the issue and hope to see a comp soon.

Judge Parker Process

 

Here is the pencils for the Sunday coming up featuring Sam's retirement which has been part of the story line for well over a year now in the strip and was announced before the whole RV/Storm/Dude/Waverly story line which occupied the better part of last year and was a real doozy to draw. The RV was one of the tougher environments to draw over and over as it wasn't a great visual set and cramped, even though they had a Mammoth Car of an RV. The most enjoyable was drawing the outside environments which gave me more to play with design wise.

This Sunday was a doozy with just about every major character in the strip except for the two girls who are in school or in the warehouse. This is the type of strip I'd love to have photo-ref and more space and size like the old days. Woody still writes the strip like the old days but the space I have to draw strips like this sometimes feel like a vise.

Judge parker Process

Here's the latest week of Judge Parker strips in pencil, ready for my inking fingers to finish them. Its finally goodbye to the Dude, the little squirrel who played stowaway on the RV for the last years it seems of the strip. I enjoyed drawing him the most of everything or everyone in the strip the past story line---which took place over the last year--but was less than a week in strip time. Sam couldn't even raise a beard in that time. Thinking back over the six years on the strip I don't think even a year has passed in strip time. Its never snowed, and rained maybe two times? No holidays or birthdays or anything to mark the passing of the seasons though I do draw a X-mas strip each year. Everybody is driving a 2010 car, as that is the ref I had when I started from the previous artist, Ed Barreto.

Everyone has an iPhone 4 at least, if not a 6, yet we never saw them buy or upgrade---that happens between panels I guess. In the old days things didn't change much on a strip like this. The poor folks still eat in that same lame, weird 70's kitchen with the planters on each side of the kitchen table--ugh! Man I hate drawing that weird set-up, which I'm sure looked spiffy in 73.

Who knows really if anyone but a few old time readers or the feverish message board trolls pays any attention to this type of thing--but as the artist on the strip this is part of the gig. I notice other strips in the heyday of continuity and soap strips did have plenty of change of seasons in the stories and I think that added another layer to them and made them more realistic. Sophie is 16 and has been for 6 years, Woody asked me to mature her a bit, which I have but I guess she'll be stuck there for another 20 years---if the strips lasts that long in papers.

Looks like we are about to revisit Derek, AKA Bender Blaster Master, Sophie's boyfriend( or was he) and that storyline from my first year or so on on the strip. Excerpts of that story was used in an anti-bullying comic.

Burlington Plein Air

This past weekend along with my regular crew the DPC I participated in the beginning of the Burlington Plein Air Festival, taking place in the historic city, founded in 1677 by the Penn Quakers. The event this year is run by 28 Gallery and has around 30 participating artist from across the region.

                                                           My set-up on Wood Street.

                                         Alina the new Lineman---or Woman of the county

Saturday Will, Alina and I drive up from Philly to get or canvases stamped and then spent the rest of the beautiful day painting in the historic sections of the city near the river front.

                                                           Wood Street 12 x 16 Oil

I'll be back up with the group painting again later this week.

Philly Plein Air

Yesterday I got together with the gang (AKA The Dirty Palette Club, AKA Philadelphia Plein Air Painters) and this time we went plein air painting in Washington Square Park in center city Philly. The park is one of the many beautiful green spaces planned and built into the city by its early planners. It was a nice day even if a bit hot--even in the shade but we painted away and tours on segways went past and families, dog walkers and interested passer-by came and went through the park.. I am going to start having more free time now that some projects are done and others have died on the launching pad--which is all great as I'll be able to get back to painting more.

                                                  Washington Square Park 10 x 20 OIL

Judge Parker Process

 More pencils and inks from a recent Judge Parker Sunday as the Spencers return from the year long  ( just a few days in strip time )storyline trapped in the RV park.

I inked 99% of this with an old Esterbrook pen nib which you can find by hunting around.

I did use a XS Pitt marker for the small faces. Looks like its a long story about building a factory and possibly a romance with Neddy and her Hunk assistant Hank. But one never knows in JP land, it might just be a year of blue balls for everyone.

Commission: Batman Zero Hour

Here is one of my latest commissions, a new version of the cover to Batman Zero Hour. Using the toothbrush for the splatter is fun, but it make your fingers dirty like Frankenstein's Monster!

The DPC on Plein Air Collector

A nice article by Bob Bahr on Plein Air Collector featuring a small collection of the paintings I own by friends. I discuss their work and what i like about each painting and painter.

Judge Parker Process

A shot of last week's dailies in progress on the strip. Godiva may be gone off to film, but she's not out of the drama. This is a doozy of a storyline having lasted a year in my life but only a few days in JP time. The trolls on the message boards are having a fit, but they always do, and don't count as real fans or readers--if they are unhappy, that means we are doing things right--never make a troll happy! Got some very nice fans mail the last few weeks about my work on the strip from some long time JP fans, which is great. Some have been reading it since the 60's---that's a real life long fan!

Collaboration: Socket of Tranquility

                                                      Socket of Tranquility 16 x 20 Oil

This new piece is another collaborative painting between my friend Alexandra Thomas and myself. We have do a few pieces like this before and Lexi has a painting of mine now that she is working on. You can see another Here. I have another painting of her's in my studio that I will also work on soon. I find it a great opportunity to play and takes risks and to also merge and let of of your ego as well when doing this type of painting. I have no idea what Lexi will do nor does she have an idea of what I will do. It took a few days to look at her painting on the easel before the idea of adding the astronaut came to me and I figured out how I wanted to merge him into what Lexi had done.

Judge Parker Process

A snapshot of me working on an upcoming week of the strip. Studying Alex Toth for some ideas on simplification.

Summer Selfie

A recent late night alla prima self portrait 12 x 16 in Oil. It's always good to keep the hand in painting even when i have heavy comic commitments ad I am by far the cheapest and easiest model to use.

The First and Best Critique I Ever Had

Unearthed from the archives of shame ( i.e., my studio) I came across my submission that I sent to Comley Comix, who published Captain Canuck in the early  late 70's-early 80's. Through the fog of nearly 35 years I am trying to remember how I came about doing the samples, getting the story, etc. I don't remember if they had a tryout or I came up with the story on my own.

 I had just graduated from High School and was really trying to get into comics, going to cons and showing samples. I might still have these original pages someplace in the attic, I'll have to check. I was still living with my parents in Ann Arbor and working/dreaming towards my future career from my bedroom.

Anyway the amazing thing to me was getting this gracious and informative reply and crit back from George Freeman and Jean-Claude St. Aubin only a few short weeks after I sent the samples. Those were certainly different and more personal times, the industry was smaller and in certain ways the same way it had been for 40 years.

I am posting this to also show the perspective student, the up-and-comer cartoonist out there how I started ( and sucked) and how the best artist are the giving kind like George and JC, who took time out from their busy schedules to give me, then a nobody, a great crit! What a gift this was.

 I poured over that thing a zillion times---every thing they said was of course true! Unlike now when there are a zillion books and schools giving you the how-to on comics and cartooning--back then there were none available to me in Michigan. I lived too far from new York to apprentice, or go to the Kubert School. There were also no cons every weekend like today, only maybe 2-3 times a year. I hadn't even been to Chicago or San Diego then...so sometimes you'd go to a con and there would be no artists to show your work to.

I always think of this crit when I teach or give crits at cons or in class and how helpful it was, even it took me a few more years to break in as a pro---but my work improved a lot just from this feedback.

 The part that was really the most true was about not being myself, a thing a lot of young artists struggle with. I think my natural ability to be able to mimic styles as well as liking a lot of different artists contributed to my artistic schizophrenia. The young artist wants to emulate and be their art heroes---its so natural. I might still suffer from some of that today as I have worked in a lot of different styles and projects.

I think for some, they only have one way or a very clear way of working from the start, but I didn't. I did feel a bit self-conscious and stiff on this and it showed---thankfully both George and JC saw something there---enough-to give me a great critique instead of just tossing it in the trash---where it likely deserved to go.

I think I started another set of samples but if  remember by the time I was working toward finishing them Captain Canuck was canceled--what a drag!  I always loved George's art, he also did the great Jack-Of-Hearts mini-series for Marvel and some great DC Batman stuff. I have reminded him of this kindness on his part and thanked him for what he did for me when I met him in person many years ago now.

So feast your eyes upon early Mike Manley art:

                                                        George's sketch relying out my splash

                                             George's letter above and Jean Claude's below

                           My letter art  that they both liked more than the art in mu samples---remember always be yourself--whatever that may be. Never give up on your dream, but also be serious about them too!

Storyboards: Secret Saturdays

I loaded up a whole opening sequence for Secret Saturdays over on my Pinterest

Digging

Digging, digging, digging....and more digging---or rather sketching into my imagination for ideas for a new series of paintings I want to embark on. While I'm digging through the studios at home and rearranging things, getting rid of clutter ( old paintings and 7 years of studio build up from my home as well as old school studio) I am digging into my head to come up with some new concepts or ideas as paintings. Here are some sketches from today's lunch break.

I want to do figure paintings for sure and I'm working out lots of thumbnails and roughs in my sketchbook. Its like trying to draw a dream in a way, and it might be a long process till I finalize the concepts and hire models or maybe even work from my imagination or Google. Hiring models is always somewhat problematic as they come and go and when you find one who's great you really want to work with them for a long time.

So far nothing yet, I feel the pressure in my head for something I am not quite getting yet, a dream thats out of focus--like an oil well tapped  and stuffs coming out, but so far no oil, just muddy water...but it will come. I have plenty of paper and pencils to find it!

Interview On Super Hero Speak Podcast

I was interviewed by the fine gentlemen of Super Hero Speak for their podcast this week.

R.I.P Harlod LeDoux

I just learned that long time Judge Parker Artist Harold LeDoux has passed away. LeDoux was the artist on the strip for an incredible 52 1/2 years!

Here are a couple of nice examples of LeDoux's Sunday strips. Sam hasn't aged in 52 years!  The late Eduardo Barreto took over from Ledoux when he retired and I took over from Eduardo, succeeding him when he became too ill to continue. You can see from these examples JP was also a pretty copy heavy strip, but LeDoux kept your eye moving with good black placements and a slick, bold brush line. I am now in my 6th year on the strip and will soon pass Eduardo's time on JP, but I seriously doubt I'll even make it half as long as Mr. LeDoux's tenure--Goodspeed.

Judge Parker Process

A little JP process from an upcoming Sunday Strip. I changed the date to 7-12 on the final as I made that mistake finishing this Sunday up in the wee hours of Thursday night. We've had a few weeks away from the Driver/Spencer road trip and been concentrating on Needy and her new business venture and a possible new romance interest--which might complicate an old romance interest. What will the outcome be? In the grand tradition of the Soap Strips tune in and see via your paper, or if you must, on Comics Kingdom. This gave me an opportunity to add some dramatic blacks to this week's strip. In July you can see it in color and read whats going down with Mark, Needy's old flame.

Camp Hill Plein Air

I posted a big Blog  over on my Philadelphia Plein Air Painters blog on my participation in last week's Camp Hill Plein Air out near Harrisburg. It was a lot of stress at times but also fun and this weeks I sold a few of the paintings I did-yahoo!

 

The passing Storm 12 x 16